The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday confirmed an award of 52 million euros (approximately 57 million dollars) to victims of Ugandan warlord Dominic Ongwen, who led brutal attacks as a commander in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) under fugitive leader Joseph Kony.
Ongwen, also known by the alias “White Ant,” is serving a 25-year prison sentence after being convicted of 61 charges, including murder, rape, and sexual enslavement. The ICC had initially ordered the compensation last year, which includes a symbolic payment of 750 euros to each of nearly 50,000 identified victims.
Ongwen challenged the reparations order, but the ICC’s appeals judges unanimously rejected his appeal. Presiding judge Solomy Balungi Bossa, herself Ugandan, announced the decision, with Ongwen appearing via video link from prison.
Although Ongwen was forcibly abducted as a nine-year-old child and turned into a soldier, the court ruled that this background did not reduce his culpability for the atrocities he later committed.
The LRA, founded by self-proclaimed prophet Joseph Kony, waged a violent rebellion in northern Uganda against President Yoweri Museveni. The group’s campaign, aiming to establish a regime based on the Ten Commandments, resulted in over 100,000 deaths and the abduction of around 60,000 children. The violence later spread into Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic.
Judges found Ongwen responsible for ordering attacks that massacred more than 130 civilians at refugee camps in Lukodi, Pajule, Odek, and Abok between 2002 and 2005.
Because Ongwen lacks the means to pay the damages himself, the ICC’s Trust Fund for Victims will oversee the reparations process. He is currently serving his sentence in a Norwegian prison after surrendering to US special forces in the Central African Republic in 2015.
The ICC is set to hold a hearing on September 9 to present charges against Joseph Kony in absentia.